


busy woman

by imposterhuman



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU-gust 2020, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Banter, CEO Pepper Potts, F/M, Fluff, Pa Tony Stark, basicaly pepper if she was allowed to go feral and tony being her handler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:01:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25925551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imposterhuman/pseuds/imposterhuman
Summary: Pepper was a very, very busy woman, which was why she was currently hiding from her PA under her desk. Tony would find her eventually-- he’d become an expert in Pepper-wrangling over the years since she’d snatched him from R&D-- but hopefully he’d be slow enough that she missed the Board meeting.“Miss Potts?” she heard Tony walk into his office, his steps quick and harried. “Pepper? I swear, if you’re hiding under your desk again, I’m going to auction off that one Monet you like so much.”Damn. She wondered if it was too late to hide in the closet, instead.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 14
Kudos: 176





	busy woman

**Author's Note:**

> for au-gust day 15: role reversal au
> 
> enjoy!!

Pepper was a very, very busy woman, which was why she was currently hiding from her PA under her desk. Tony would find her eventually-- he’d become an expert in Pepper-wrangling over the years since she’d snatched him from R&D-- but hopefully he’d be slow enough that she missed the Board meeting. 

“Miss Potts?” she heard Tony walk into his office, his steps quick and harried. “Pepper? I swear, if you’re hiding under your desk again, I’m going to auction off that one Monet you like so much.”

Damn. She wondered if it was too late to hide in the closet, instead.

Resignedly, Pepper popped her head out from under the desk. “I’m super busy,” she tried, despite knowing that it wouldn’t work. Tony made her schedule; he knew when she was and wasn’t busy. “You’ll have to come back later.”

Tony raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “You’re busy doing something under your desk?” he clarified. “What are you doing down there?”

“Important CEO stuff,” Pepper lied smoothly. She smiled helplessly, like _what can you do?_ “I own Potts Industries, I can do whatever I want.”

“Okay, well, I have some other important CEO stuff for you, Miss _I own the company_ ,” Tony pointedly held out a folder. “And if you skip this meeting, it’s me who has to explain to the Board where you are, and that’s gotta be an OSHA violation. You’re putting me in a dangerous position on purpose.”

“You have no idea what constitutes an OSHA violation,” Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose. “Do I have to go to the meeting?”

“Unless you want me to tell your investors that you’re hiding under your desk? Yes,” Tony tapped his foot impatiently. “And you definitely do not pay me enough to do that.”

“You’re the worst PA ever,” she grumbled. She clambered out from under the desk in the most dignified possible way (which was to say in a completely undignified manner, seeing as there was no dignified way to come out from under a desk) and smoothed her skirt down. 

“That would be because I’m an engineer,” teased Tony. He handed her the folder and she flipped through it. All of the notes she needed were there, unhelpfully annotated in Tony’s chicken scratch handwriting (though the unflattering doodles of some of the more annoying Board members were definitely essential). “You practically kidnapped me and pressed me into service.”

“That sounds illegal,” she hummed as she put her jacket on. “You should report me.”

“I would, but alas,” Tony flashed her a glimmering smile, filled with mischief. “I seem to have found myself kidnapped and unable to do anything about it.”

Pepper fixed her lipstick quickly and started the irritatingly long walk from her office to the boardroom. “And I’m guessing Stockholm Syndrome is why you haven’t requested to be sent back to R&D for six years?”

“Bold of you to assume I haven’t been sneaking down there to work all these years in preparation for my great escape,” Tony huffed, jogging a little to keep up with her in her heels. She tried not to find the sight adorable. She was a grown woman talking about another adult; adorable shouldn’t have even been in her vocabulary. 

“I thought I saw your name on the designs that came to my office the other day,” she said. Pepper pressed the button for the slow elevator, even as Tony cast a glance at the stairwell. She was determined to be as late as possible to this meeting as a form of protest against stupid meetings everywhere. “They were good work. Listen, if you want to go back to R&D…” She trailed off and watched him expectantly.

Tony’s cheeks were a little flushed, ostensibly from the compliment. He followed her into the elevator when it arrived. “Thanks, but I’m good where I am,” he said softly. “Who else would get you to all your meetings on time? This company would fall apart without me.”

Pepper chuckled, thinking about all her other PAs, most of whom had quit after a week or two of working for her. She wasn’t _that_ bad, she just knew that her working by herself was far more efficient than her having to sit through painfully boring Board meetings that were going to end with her ignoring everything the cranky old white men had to say, anyway. It was possible that that was less of a problem than the whole hiding under desks thing, but she maintained that that was an appropriate response to the situation. 

“Good, because I wasn’t _really_ offering to let you go,” she smiled slyly. “You’re kidnapped, remember? If I let you go, I lose all my credibility as a kidnapper, and we can’t have that.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “You’d be a terrible kidnapper, seeing how much you pay me. Kidnappers don’t usually pay their victims six figures.”

“Oh, so now you’re paid too much?” Pepper made a face. “A few minutes ago, you were criminally underpaid. Make up your mind, Tony.”

The elevator dinged before the man could answer. “Well, would you look at that,” Tony steered her towards the boardroom, where everyone was already seated around the table. “We’ll just have to discuss my raise later. Your meeting was supposed to start twenty minutes ago.”

“I’m firing you,” Pepper warned as Tony held the door open for her, making sure there was no way for her to weasel her way out of going in the room. “Consider yourself fired.”

“Will that be all, Miss Potts?” Tony asked placidly.

Pepper dropped her fond glare. “That will be all, Mr. Stark,” she said, taking a moment to put on her game face.

Tony squeezed her shoulder as she passed. “Kick some ass in there, Pep,” he whispered with a smile.

Pepper’s answering smile was practically bloodthirsty. She hated the meetings, but she couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t damn good at them, especially with Tony’s insights tucked carefully away in the folder she held in her hand. “With pleasure, Tony,” she purred. “With pleasure.”

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos make me happy :))
> 
> come talk to me on tumblr [@imposter-human](https://imposter-human.tumblr.com/)


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